


Heartland

by Aquamint



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Fluff, Love Triangle, M/M, Old Friends, Unresolved feelings from The Past, countryside romance, everyone will be happy in the end but it might take a while, idolverse, kind of unrequited love, only mild drama here, seokhan getting together, seokhan on the cow farm, this has been on my mind since SVT club ep 8, twice voice: LOVE is TIMING
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-19
Updated: 2018-10-19
Packaged: 2019-08-04 08:14:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,047
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16343159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aquamint/pseuds/Aquamint
Summary: When his old friend Jeonghan shows up for a sudden visit, musical theater actor-turned cattle rancher Taewoo has to face the feelings he never addressed when they were just carefree teens. However, he finds it hard to ignore the way that Jeonghan and his goofy friend Seokmin seem to be attached at the hip.





	Heartland

As the sun rose over the Chungnam countryside, a silver shimmer shone across the dew covered hills. The warm light filtering through the bedroom blinds was just bright enough to wake Taewoo, and just in time for him to start his morning tasks too. Caring for one hundred cows was not really as hard of a job as it would seem, but that doesn’t mean Taewoo loved waking up at 5:30 to drive his mud-covered flatbed truck to the feed store. After a cup of tea, he dragged himself out of the house, remembering to grab his _Jesus Christ Superstar_ CD to keep him company on the sleepy morning drive.

After returning to his farm and unloading a truck’s worth of 50-pound feed bags, he continued with the usual morning routine of feeding and checking on the cows, bottle feeding the babies, and cleaning out the night’s worth of poo.

And who’s to care if he belted his heart out while cleaning the pens. There is no one around to hear his song but a hundred cows and the birds chirping in the trees. Maybe they’re not the adoring audience of a big city playhouse or music hall, but the peace he has found in the serene countryside is more fulfilling than any applause could ever be.

It’s been five years since Taewoo moved away from Seoul, leaving behind his dream of becoming a musical theater star. When his grandfather passed, leaving him a house, a herd of cattle, and a nice parcel of land, he decided that it was finally time to get away from the competitive and fast-paced city.

At first it was hard getting used to this new provincial life, but it was not any harder than seeing his friends in back in the city hit it big one-by-one while he struggled to even land callbacks for smaller shows. Of course, he was happy for his friends’ success, but it is hard to find time to spend with friends when they suddenly are famous and you are still working a day job waiting tables.

 

As he finished the morning rounds and headed back into the house for an early lunch, his phone buzzed in his pocket. When he saw the name on the caller ID he could feel his heart beat faster. It was Jeonghan, one of his closest friends from Seoul and by far the most famous person he knew. Despite a busy schedule and being in one of the country’s most popular singing groups, Jeonghan had always kept in contact with Taewoo, calling from time to time to check in on his friend and reminisce about the old days.

A bit of a trickster since their teen years , fame hadn’t changed Jeonghan much, if only making him a bit more confident in himself. Of course, Taewoo would be lying if he said he didn’t think that Jeonghan looked more beautiful than ever before. Jeonghan had always been a handsome boy, but a stylist-curated wardrobe and professional hair and makeup really made him look more dazzlingly brilliant than Taewoo’s heart could handle. Perhaps he had always cared for Jeonghan as more than a friend, but he felt that his feelings would only ever get in the way of their relationship built on trusting and supporting each other.

Jeonghan was his oldest friend and he couldn’t let the pounding of his heart keep him from answering the phone.

 

“Hello!”

“Ah! Kyuhoonie hyung, the most handsome farmer in Yesan, how are you doing?”

No matter how many times Jeonghan made that joke, Taewoo’s stomach still flipped every time he heard it. He tried to laugh it off.

“Jeonghan, it’s been a long time since anyone’s called me Kyuhoon. You’re the only one who still calls me that, you know?”

Jeonghan giggled and Taewoo could picture Jeonghan’s face scrunching up as he laughed.

They talked for nearly an hour, Jeonghan catching him up on Seventeen’s most recent tour, gossipping about drama with the new separated dorms, and sharing something ridiculous that  Jeonghan’s close friend Seokmin had recently said. Taewoo assured Jeonghan that his cows were all doing fine. He even told him about the new dog he had adopted and about Jongsoo, the old man from the feed market he had befriended in the previous few months. Taewoo could tell that Jeonghan was stressed out about something, but he decided not to pry and risk ruining the lighthearted tone of their call.

 

“I have to go now,” Jeonghan said, “but I really miss you! I’d love to come out and see you sometime.”

“Oh, it's so different out here. I really love it but it’s nothing like life in the city. I don’t think you could survive it! ”

“I could too! Maybe I need that change. This city is just,” he sighed, “It’s a lot sometimes.”

“Well, you are welcome to come and visit any time you like, Jeonghan.”

 

After the call, he went about his day as he normally would. While he repaired pens and fed the chickens and rode the four-wheeler out to the road to check the mailbox, he almost let himself imagine what it would be like to have Jeonghan there with him.

                                            *   *   *  


Taewoo had barely set his head down on his pillow when there was a loud knock at the door.

“Who is it!?” Taewoo shouted as he walked toward the front of the house to greet the unexpected caller. There was no reply from the other side of the door. The only response was the obnoxious chime of the doorbell being pressed repeatedly.

“Hey, you know this is really late to come knocking on someone’s--”

Before Taewoo could finish scolding the late night visitor, he was interrupted by laughter and the shout of “SURPRISE!” from his uninvited guest.

Standing in his doorway was Yoon Jeonghan, his best friend he hadn’t seen in person for nearly a year. With him stood a taller boy, flashing a goofy smile and holding one hand up as if to wave the teeniest “Hi.”

“Jeonghan!? What’s going on? Seokmin? Is that you?”

Jeonghan immediately wrapped Taewoo up into a warm hug, but Taewoo couldn’t process what was going on.

 

All he could manage to mutter was a gentle, “What are you two doing here?”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! this idea has been stuck with me ever since I saw that svt club episode and i finally got around to writing it. This is my first time trying to seriously write fiction of any form so please bear with me!  
> you can find me on twitter.com/dk_guapo and dk-guapo.tumblr.com
> 
> and if you havent seen the svt club episode this is based on Please PLEASE watch it. https://www.vlive.tv/video/72653 the relevant part starts at about 34 minutes


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